A variety of book-style albums have been previously proposed for audio and video cassettes. While the invention is adapted to both of these applications and others, it is particularly well suited for use with video cassettes that are to be rented or sold.
At the present time, it is common practice in video rental outlets to display video cassette programming in special albums or packaging known as "sleeves" which bear the title of the video program on the external surface of the album or sleeve. In some rental agencies, because of concern with cassette theft or damage to the original sleeve packaging, the cassette is removed for safekeeping and a styrofoam block inserted into the program's sleeve for rigidity. The sleeve, or in the case of an album, is then shrink-wrapped for protection against handling damage. All such shrink-wrapped video packaging, which may run into the thousands of individual title packages, must be provided by the renter at extra cost. In fact, this shrink-wrapping does not sustain repeated inspection and requires the renter to repeat this shrink-wrapping several times. Other forms of clear film material have been attempted to solve this problem, including rigid sheets of clear PVC folded to enclose the album or sleeve. These clear folded PVC sheets have proven to be a marginal improvement over shrink-wrapping, but do not wear well and are unsuitable for the rental packaging of video cassette programming. Moreover, they are difficult to open due to the rigidity of the material and construction, and do not allow for the easy removal of styrofoam inserts or the insertion of the video cassette to be rented.
In the course of developing the present invention, it was decided that an album configuration offered the best general design for durability and economies of use. However, there were shortcomings to even the album design in that the cassette or a sleeve containing the cassette cannot be seen clearly when within the album and, even if the albums were made from transparent material, trays and other parts used for holding objects in the album would obscure printed material on the cassette. For convenience in the present application, the term "cassette" will be used even though the cassette itself is contained within a tight fitting sleeve or box and has reference to the cassette itself and/or the sleeve or box enclosing it.
Even if cassettes contained in prior albums were not obscured by the opaque material from which the albums are formed or by the presence of tray walls and the like, other articles in prior albums obscure the cassette making it either difficult or impossible to see the cassette clearly or to easily insert and remove the cassette from the album. U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,341,307; 4,432,827; 3,902,598; 4,054,206 and 4,407,410 are examples of book-style cassette holders having rectangular complimentary interfitting trays adapted to receive cassettes or other objects. In addition to the fact that the albums are formed from opaque materials, the walls of the trays obscure the articles inside, making it impossible to read the title of the video from outside the album. U.S. Pat. No. 4,518,275 describes a package and storage container for diskettes in which flat diskettes are held in a front cover pocket. A three-ring binder is provided for sheet material in the back cover. Even if an attempt were made to use this as a cassette holder, the three rings of the binder would be in the way, making it less convenient to insert and remove cassettes, and would partially obscure the title bearing edge of the cassette closest to the spine.
In view of the shortcomings of the prior art, it is a major objective of the present invention to provide an improved book-style album for audio and video cassettes wherein a way can be found to enable the cassettes to be clearly seen within the albums. Another object is to provide an improved album that is suited for use as a display unit for cassettes that are being rented or sold. Yet another more specific object is to provide an improved cassette album for holding and displaying cassettes in such a way that the titles and other printed indicia along one edge of the cassette can be viewed while the cassette is displayed within the album on a display shelf. A further object of the invention is to provide an improved album of the type described using fewer component parts and in a specific preferred form of the invention, only two sheets of material optionally including a pocket or trap for one or more printed insert sheets which, in the case of a video cassette, might include the title and a picture of one or more of the actors or a scene from the video.